Sprinkler Fest with Zoe

I finally dowloaded all the photos from our camera from the past few days. Here are some more cute shots of Saturday's Sprinkler Fest with Zoe! :)

Pennsylvania Primary Day

BARACK THE VOTE!

Thank You! Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Baby Shower Formula Drive in honor of Baby Sister and our family!! (click here) We are so thankful to know that formula will be a little bit more plentiful in the orphanage where Kyle and Owen lived for the first eight months of their babyhood. We can't help but think of it daily: the contrasts and the comparisons... what an incredible blessing for Baby Sister to be born into a life of plenty... the formula donations in her/our honor is the perfect way to help us give thanks for all of our bounty. Thank you to all ~~ and especially to Corey for all she did to facilitate this on our behalf! Thank you! Thank you! We are so very humbled and so very grateful.

Multigenerational Nesting Amidst Lots and Lots of Fun

My parents arrived Friday afternoon for "five sleeps!" K & O are on school break this week, so the main agenda is for my parents to be primary childcare for Mon, Tues, Wed. But there is lots of other stuff going on here too... i.e., heavy duty NESTING. This weekend my parents went to work on our house/yard/baby-prep... my Dad has spear-headed an effort to completely re-landscape our front gardens (and to make it as care-free as possible for the summer so that I don't have to weed like crazy with a newborn); my Mom has spear-headed an effort to launder all of the baby's clothes and linens (which, as it truns out is TONS and TONS of laundry, sorting, folding, hanging, ironing -- note: nobody should buy us one more item of clothing for this girl!!!!!!). And that is just the tip of the iceburg. In between wheelbarrow loads of debris, kitchen-floor-mopping, sandbox-fixing, meal-cooking, chainsawing, child-caring, tree-pruning, baby-room-organizing, garage-cleaning, and all-around-general-nesting-on-the-part-of-parents-and-grandparents... we've also done a lot of playing. This weekend was in the 80s and gorgeous here. We went to Annabelle's birthday party on Saturday mid-day, and then later in the afternoon the Petsch crew came over for --among other things-- running in the sprinkler (click here). The boys have played a lot of baseball with MorFar. And been loved on by my parents more than you could possibly imagine. They are basically just in HEAVEN. And yesterday afternoon/evening my parents watched K & O so that Braydon and I could make the big Babies R Us trip. I'm feeling like things are really coming together for Baby Sister now. Which feels like a big relief for me. It is a crazy time here. But it is all good. [The awesome photo above is from Saturday afternoon, courtesy of Lori and Shelli :) Thanks guys! O is Thing 1, K is Thing 2]

Cracking Each Other Up, Crazy Happy, & Do They Know?

K & O have always been really good at making each other laugh. Almost always with inside jokes that seem very twinny (i.e., nobody seems to really 'get it' except for the two of them). Even as little babies they'd regularly crack each other up. I remember when they were about 13-14 months old they had a "da!" phase where they would shout "da!" at each other with every variation of intonation that you could possibly imagine -- just cracking each other up like it was the funniest thing in the whole wide world. They'd often do it in the grocery store as I was rolling them in the cart. People in the isles wouldn't be able to help themselves from stopping to watch them... and people couldn't help but crack up themselves when they'd see it. Regularly I'd get asked, "What are they saying to each other? What is so funny?" And all I could say, was, "I have no idea! Who the heck knows?! But obviously they think that whatever it is is absolutely hysterical!?!!" But lately they've taken their art form to a whole new level. They are cracking each other up -- BIG TIME! They laugh so incredibly hard at/with each other that we worry one of them will choke. But it is very hard to not crack up yourself when you're in their presence and they're on a roll. These seriously intense laughing spells are happening at least a couple of times a day, sometimes many times each day. This particular twinny laugh session (photos below) took place after dinner the other night when the two of them were eating ice cream for dessert. Braydon and I were sitting at the table with them, but they were in their own little world... and whatever it was that they thought was so funny was very, very funny! These guys are so crazy happy so much of the time. It is hard to imagine that this is normal... even despite the fact that they are 3 year old twin boys. How can any two people be that crazy happy that much of the time???!

Recently I was chatting with a mom of one of K & O's friends from school. School was out and we were watching our kids play on the playground before heading home. Out of nowhere she said, "I want to ask you something, but please just tell me if you don't want to answer because I'd totally understand." I said, "O.k.?" And she said, "Do you think they know?" I was caught off guard and I wasn't exactly sure I knew what she was asking. She clarified, "Do you think that Kyle and Owen know-- like, they know hardship and pain and they know how lucky they are-- and maybe that is why they are so happy and full of life all the time? I mean, I just don't think it is normal-- for kids this age to be like that. There is something different about them. It is like they must know or something." This is not the first time that someone has asked me something like this. Many people have, actually. But I was surprised to hear it from this mom because she doesn't know much of K & O's life story. I said, "Honestly, I don't know. Braydon and I do wonder about that. We wonder if somehow that is all deep inside them at some level and that's why they are this way. But we really don't know. There is no way to know." She then asked me if it bothers me for her to call them "lucky." She explained that another adoptive family she knows has a big problem with it when people describe their child as 'lucky.' I know that many adoptive families do feel this way. When people refer to their kids as "lucky" they make short retorts back like, "no, we're the lucky ones!" etc. Braydon and I have talked about this at length in regards to our boys. I understand why it bothers people to refer to their adopted children as "lucky" (the reasons are many and I empathize with all of them). But in our specific case, it really doesn't bother me. First of all-- on so many levels, K & O are just not at all lucky. Lucky to have been born in one of the worst most violent and desperately impoverished slums on the planet?? I think not. Lucky to have been abandoned at birth with absolutely nothing?? No. Lucky to have been forced to survive in a very tough Haitian orphanage for their first eight months of life? No. Lucky to have then, at age 8 months, had everything they had ever known (bad as may have been, it was still their life and the only life they knew) ripped away from them as they were brought to an entirely new world where nothing resembled anything from their prior life whatsoever? No. But are they lucky to be twins who at least had each other? Lucky to have been abandoned early enough that they were able to get at least some sustenance in the orphanage? Lucky to have been adopted by Braydon and I? Lucky to have been two out of 1.5 million orphans in Haiti who 'got out'? Lucky to have been two out of only approximately 200 Haitian orphans adopted into the U.S.A. in the year 2005 (many of the other 200 having been adopted by their extended family members who had somehow managed to immigrate to the U.S. in years prior)? Lucky to have been given a new life with opportunities and life-chances that exceed anything imaginable in their birthplace of origin... that exceed anything imaginable by all of the other hundreds of thousands of orphans still struggling to survive in Haiti? I think so. What are the chances? 2 out of 1.5 million. The chances of winning any number of lotteries are higher. Is it luck? I guess that is one way to describe it. Destiny? Perhaps. God's will? I'm sure many people look at it that way. Coincidence? I suppose that's possible. I don't know what it is. I only know that K & O have never looked back. I know that they are the two happiest, most engaged-in-life, most full-of-life people I've ever known. Is that because they know??? I am not sure. I just know that I know. And it makes me feel like the proudest most grateful mother in the whole world. Words cannot describe how crazy happy it makes me to know that they are so crazy happy.

[top 5 photos are K looking/laughing at O; bottom 5 photos are O looking/laughing at K]

Beautiful Spring Eve

Last night was a magical spring evening here. There is something so incredibly awe-inspiring wonderful about the glories of spring. And sometimes moments happen that just seem to epitomize it. Last evening was one of those moments. When Braydon was done working he made paper airplanes with the boys and the three of them flew them in the back yard while I cooked dinner. Looking outside the kitchen windows, with the warm spring air flowing in through the screens, I felt desperate to be able to freeze time. Can't it just stay like this forever? Can't these boys just never grow one bit older? Can't they be this perfect age for eternity? How did we get so lucky?? How has this become my life??? It is all too overwhelming sometimes. And then we ate dinner on the porch. There is something about sitting on the porch at the end of a day, eating a favorite meal together, and soaking up laughter and questions and silliness and stories... there is something about it that just... feels... completely right. Our dinners aren't always like this! Perhaps that is why when they are it feels so beautiful? It is not always spring. Perhaps that is why when it is it feels so magical? Life is not always this good. Perhaps that is why last evening felt so wonder-filled? We count our blessings. And they are many.

Beautiful Spring Eve - More Pics

"Let's Keep Moving!" - Baltimore Spring 2008

In early February we went to Sand Key, Florida for our last Vaca as a family of four. But two months later we were really feeling the urge to try to squeeze in another get-away B.B. (Before Baby) -- not a real Vaca but a teeny tiny mini-vaca. We decided to just do it and we sprang for a weekend trip to Baltimore this past weekend. We love Baltimore. And Baltimore holds extra special meaning for us because we spent our first Adoption Day weekend there, celebrating the one-year-anniversary of being a family, in January 2006. The city is the perfect size for a quick weekend trip, it is easy to navigate with little ones, there is tons and tons to do, it is just the right distance from our house (not too close, not too far), and --probably best of all-- downtown Baltimore has such a nice mix of black and white people. Now, granted, we're still the only family walking around that looks anything remotely like we do.... and the city has all sorts of problems with segregation (what racially diverse city doesn't?) that would make it very different to live there than to visit there.... but.... to spend a weekend hanging out in Inner Harbor Baltimore, with lots and lots of white and black people all mixed together, is really nice for our family. We had a fabulous mini-vaca with lots of highlights that included:

• A nice hotel right in the heart of the Inner Harbor (we parked the car and never got in it again)
• The hotel's swimming pool all to ourselves on Saturday morning (turns out most people just simply aren't doing cannonballs at 7am... nor do they want to witness two three year olds doing them at that hour)
• Beautiful 70-80 degree weather all day
• A trip to the National Aquarium
• At the aquarium, our first experience with a "4D" Immersion Theater (Owen was freaked out beyond belief and begged Braydon to take him out of the theater only 2 minutes into it; Kyle loved it and couldn't get enough of it)
• Watching the fudge makers sing, stomp, and dance (K & O were way into it) at The Fudgery
• Frozen custard (Owen will always choose 'vanilla with colored jimmies in a cone' and Kyle will always choose 'milkshake' -- always, always, always!)
• Taking the "BOAT!!!!!" (i.e., the Water Taxis) to/from Fells Point for lunch... Baltimore crabcakes at an outdoor table overlooking the water for lunch
• Incredible spectacular couldn't-be-more-perfectly-coincidentally-PERFECT-coincidence: When our boat docked in Fells Point there was... none other than... an all-male, all-black, all-young (middle school and high school age) street musician DRUM CORE playing hard-core marching band drumming music in Fells Point Center. And... most of them had gorgeous dreadlocks! Talk about an AWESOME coincidence! We watched them and listened for close to an hour. K & O were in heaven (K especially). And...
• While watching the drumming street musicians Kyle made a cute little friend. It always amazes me how easily and quickly young kids can make friends. It is so incredibly sweet to watch and witness.
• Macaroni & cheese in the hotel room and then early to bed for an exhausted K & O. And then --while the boys slept-- lovely salads, white wine (yes, I indulged, and Baby Sister approved), and cheesecake in the hotel room for H & B.
• We left Sunday morning for a visit in Delaware with our friends Ben and Ruth and their adorable baby twins Robin and Anna.

I know, I know, going on a whirlwind weekend trip to Baltimore 4.5 weeks from my due date is probably a little crazy. And admittedly, I overdid it a bit (a lot). But it was just the right thing for our family. Driving down there Friday evening Kyle started in with a new phrase we'd never heard him say before-- it started when he didn't want to stop for dinner and insisted we eat in the car -- "Let's Keep Moving!" he insisted. And then he repeated that over and over the whole weekend... no time to doddle, no time to waste... "Let's Keep Moving!" As soon as we'd exit the aquarium, it was, "Let's Keep Moving!" As soon as we'd finish our lunch, it was, "Let's Keep Moving!" As soon as the light signaled we could cross the street, it was "Let's Keep Moving!" All. Weekend. Long. I thought it was a fitting motto -- for me in particular. As of yesterday I'm officially 9 months pregnant, and as much as my entire body often feels like it wants to completely shut down I've got Kyle's little motto ringing in my ears: "Let's Keep Moving!" Move along people! Move along! There's FUN to be had! There's too much to do in this wild, crazy world to linger! We only live once! Carpe Diem! "Let's keep moving!"

[Baltimore photos below; as always click on any to enlarge]

Baltimore Photos I

Baltimore Photos II

Baltimore Photos III

Thank You!

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in Corey's Virtual Baby Shower for us! And thank you, especially to our wonderful friend Corey for hosting it! We feel so very blessed!

...for Corey's Baby Shower Guest Blogger Post, CLICK HERE.